TReaching ®

    We would like to use a recent event which has shown up in education news to promote our objective in this article. Our objective is to spread the idea of including students in foundation-level planning and decision-making. Our applause goes to the Miami-Dade School Board in Florida for their action in this direction. Some of the members of the Miami-Dade School Board are clearly open-minded, forward-thinking people who realize what education is about. Others still have lessons to learn. We shall explain.

    Let’s begin with the issue that Miami-Dade has begun to tackle. Their school district, like many others, is faced with a disconcerting number of students who require disciplinary action. They deal with severe violence, bullying, and fighting, along with milder conflicts. In search of an effective solution to these problems, the school board hosted a student presentation addressing the issue during one of its meetings. Students presented the idea of implementing a restorative justice system.

    Restorative justice is not new, but it is untraditional around here. Whereas most justice systems follow up on offensive or criminal activity with questions like “What laws have been broken?”, “Who committed the crime?”, and “What do they deserve?”, restorative justice asks, “Who has been hurt?”, “What do they need?”, and “Whose obligation and responsibilities are these?”. The first set of questions strive to satisfy a hunger for punishment; the second set endeavors to make everything good again. The restorative justice process bears this out.

    During a restorative justice session, victims and perpetrators come together in a supervised setting. Victims describe their injuries, losses, and feelings. Perpetrators explain why they did what they did. They defend themselves. Then both parties work together to right the wrongs by deciding appropriate restitution and rehabilitation. Obviously this system is designed for opposing parties who are earnest about settling their differences and finding peace. It requires a spirit of cooperation.

    Students in Miami-Dade proposed using a restorative justice system at their schools. Some school board members plus the school superintendent cast doubts on the idea. Why? Because it would likely be too costly.

    Yes, you heard it correctly. Here we have a group of students who are as concerned about the discipline problems as the adults are and who propose a legitimate solution for which they are personally willing to pitch in to make it work, and the leaders of the school system claim that it may cost too much money. Hello, are you feeling okay? There is some seriously flawed thinking going on here.

    Miami-Dade is blessed with kids who are being responsible by proposing a program which is manned mostly by students for students in order to improve their learning environment, and the district folk fail to realize that they can only gain. They probably imagine that this justice system will require extra staff-as-supervisor hours while students hold court sessions, which will have to be paid for. What these board members are failing to realize is that if this justice system succeeds, all learning will benefit. More students will be in school and will be there more comfortably. The losses to learning incurred from violence, bullying, and fighting may drop. This is an investment in educational quality. Teachers will benefit as much as students will. The nay-sayers are being shortsighted. Three more points.

    Point number one, as we stated earlier, is that restorative justice requires a spirit of cooperation. The students who proposed the idea to their district leaders know that. Not all students may realize this, though, and it will be up to teachers to teach their students about cooperative justice. Teachers may need to orient their students with the process of holding their fire during a disagreement and listening to each other. This needs to be taught not only by the supervisors during the court session, but children should be conditioned with this value on an ongoing basis. Effective education takes place during peacetime, not just when people are at war with each other. Law enforcement agencies have learned this nationally. So, the value of cooperation will need to be built into lessons and activities throughout the school day. That is reasonable. This leads to point number two.

    Reality dictates that restorative justice is not going to suit every situation. There will be circumstances when the law and its consequences will have to be imposed from above. This would probably happen when the spirit of cooperation is lacking. Like with anything, we need to have a variety of tools to choose from. Nobody is suggesting that we should dump all other justice systems and adopt a restorative one exclusively. A conflict needs to be sized up and evaluated for its resolution potential via restorative justice. That should be the first option. Other processes can be implemented if restorative justice is inappropriate. Students can help determine that, by the way.

    One final point. Please reread the title of this article. Notice the word “appreciating”. This is not a touchy-feely word that suggests that adults hear young people’s ideas at the foundation level and acknowledge their kiddies’ “precious participation” with a nod and a smile. Appreciation means to sincerely follow through and use their suggestions. Involving young people in ways that govern their destiny is very valuable. They directly contribute to their own growth and future and personally participate in that venture. What more can you ask for? Many schools add programs, courses, and educational departments. Many schools expand in size and quality. Are students invited to contribute their “two cents” to the process? Our children are our most valuable resource. Our educational institutions are for them and should be built around their needs. They understand themselves better than we do. Listen to them and allow them to give toward their own future. You will be “helping children to help themselves”.